What’s In A Name: Hi-Nella

Hi-Nella and Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.

By RAY BALOGH | The Municipal

Five of the municipalities in New Jersey have hyphenated names. One of the boroughs is known as a “town that shouldn’t exist,” and one’s name was adopted to avoid confusing postal clerks.

An aerial view of Hi-Nella’s water tower and surrounding residential and commercial properties depicts a quiet, attractive community generously dotted with greenery. (Photo by www.vantageres.com) One of the charming and functional commercial strips in Ho-Ho-Kus features offerings of food, drink, flowers, printing and copying and other professional services.(Photo by www.ho-ho-kusboro.com)

Hi-Nella

The Borough of Hi-Nella (its official name) was created along with four other municipalities on April 23, 1929, from a now-defunct township.

The name’s origin is somewhat in dispute, with some alleging Hi-Nella derives from the Lenni-Lenape Native American phrase meaning “high rolling knoll” or “high ground.” Others assert the name is an eponymous tip of the hat to Nella Parker, whose husband, Lucious, developed Hi-Nella Estates just before the borough’s formation.

The municipality shouldn’t even exist, according to the Newarkbased newspaper, Star-Ledger, because of its diminutive geographical area, small population, dearth of government employees and its use of a double-wide trailer as a municipal building.

Then-Mayor Meredith Dobbs defiantly responded to the newspaper article that all efforts to compel Hi-Nella’s consolidation with any adjoining municipality would be “declared dead on arrival.”

The bell-curved census of Hi-Nella started with 160 residents in 1930, climbed to its high of 1,250 in 1980 and dropped back down to 856 in last year’s count. The town’s population grew nearly eightfold during its first half century of existence.

The governing body is composed of a mayor and a six-member borough council, the state’s most common administrative arrangement. The council serves as the legislative body; the mayor presides over the meetings and votes only to break a tie.

The voting populace is relatively independent, with 45.5% of the total registered as unaffiliated.

Hi-Nella is a non-operating school district, with children pre-K through eighth grade attending the nearby Stratford School District and high schoolers attending Sterling High School, which serves three neighboring districts.

Hi-Nella embraces only 0.22 square miles, all of it land, and no interstate, U.S., state or major county highways cut through the borough. The only numbered routes are minor county roads.

For more information, visit www.hinellaboro.org.

Ho-Ho-Kus

Ho-Ho-Kus tips the scale at 4,003 residents, according to the 2020 census, down slightly from the 4,086 a decade ago.

According to its website, www.ho-ho-kusboro.com, the town “hosts a diverse population, representing a multitude of backgrounds, religious beliefs and recreational pursuits.”

Unofficial theories abound about the origin of the borough’s name. The official version posits, “the most likely origin is a contraction of the Delaware Indian term ‘Mah-Ho-Ho-Kus,’ (or ‘Mehokhokus’), meaning ‘the red cedar.’”

Others speculate the town’s name derives from: • An Indian word for running water, a cleft in or under the rock, or hollow rock. • The word “hohokes,” describing the whistle of wind against the bark of trees. • The Chihohokie Indians. • The Dutch “hoog akers” (high acorns) or “hoge aukers” (high oaks). • Indian words “hoccus” (fox) or “woakus” (gray fox). • “Ho,” meaning joy or spirit, added to “hohokes.”

The name did not originally contain any hyphens. Their addition occurred by council resolution in 1908 submitted to the New Jersey secretary of state’s office for two reasons: • To distinguish the borough from Hohokus Township. • To avoid confusion by postal clerks, who sometimes sent the borough’s mail to Hoboken, N.J.

Subsequent efforts to change the name or its punctuation have failed, and the town’s website boasts, “Today every man, woman and child in this historic town is proud to live in a community whose spelling is not duplicated anywhere on earth.”

Ho-Ho-Kus is an affluent community. Its ZIP code is ranked 268th of the nation’s 41,000-plus ZIP codes, placing it squarely in the top 1% in the United States.